Midnight in Vasa. As you can see no lights needed. Now it’s coming to 5am, just made it home. Almost 11000km, well worth it!
THEQuagraine
THE JQ World Tour – Travelling THE World #rcgypsy Style
Category Archives: RC Tracks
Euros Track – Amazeballs
The track is amazing! Really really nice, can’t wait for tomorrow. I also like the fact that it’s a real driver’s track. There are a lot of corners and combinations where the driver can make a big difference. Everyone is not able to do the same thing, and a talented driver will be able to make a difference. Challenging track, and it looks great.
The surface is a bit of a question mark. It doesn’t look like it did at the warm up. I think it will be dusty tomorrow, and should groove up. I expect it to be medium to high grip and bumpy in places later on. I hope the grip isn’t as high as for the warm up.
I hope I get my car good early on in practice and get to focus on my driving. Tyre choice will most likely be between long wear medium impact and enduro. Maybe long wear soft to start with, will have to determine that after watching the first heats run.
Some sections are looking like concrete dirt.
Some…not so much
Euros 2016, Redovan Spain
Long drive from France. But oh man, does the track look good!!!
LA Speedway German Nationals Qualifier – Day 2
![IMG_4038[1]](https://jqproducts.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/img_40381-e1466969224536.jpg)
Today we had the last qualifier 1st up in the morning, which we decided to skip with Max as it was maximum muddy, and we already had two good results. Genius. The eCar class had semi finals, and I won mine, and Max was easily bumping to the main when his car ground to a halt. A loose motor wire was to blame :-(. I ended up winning the eCar class after double 10min mains. Bloody electric!
In nitro I definitely didn’t have the “flow” today. Things just didn’t go my way at all. In the semi I flamed out during my first pit stop. This meant that I started the main in 5th place. In the main after flipping on torn carpet, then getting accidentally taken out by someone re-entering the track, and finally getting stuck in traffic in the pit lane entry ramp, I eventually got going and drove up from 5th to 2nd right behind the leader, when it started raining. I don’t know if it was my tyre choice of super soft chainlink or my car, or what, but I was 2 seconds slower than the other guys it seemed, and I dropped like a stone to 4th. At the very end the rain eased and I got some traction again, but boy was it slippery there for a while!
So I won electric and 4th in Nitro. Max made the main in nitro as there is no soldering required. He finished 7th after a good showing! First time without his dad messing things up for him too! All on his own, great job!
![IMG_4044[1]](https://jqproducts.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/img_40441.jpg)
After the Final
After cleaning the car! Back in business.
The Speedway track that we never had time to visit during their race 😦
Tomorrow we head to France! Let’s see if we manage to order some croissants this time! Where is that classic race report. I have to find it again. Danke Schön to the Grosch family for the hospitality, and watch out the Medjoubi’s! Tomorrow another nice 12h drive!
LA Speedway German Nationals Qualifier – Day 1
Today we drove 45min to another track, LA Speedway, for a 2 day race. Today was practice and qualifying, and tomorrow we run the mains. The weather was great today, until right after qualifying for the day was done when a thunderstorm arrived. Hopefully we get to race tomorrow. Max and me are both in the A main in electric and semis in nitro, no idea really where but somewhere there. We don’t really have the right tyres here so we are saving the single sets we have for the main, but even so qualifying went well enough.
A note out of Degani’s playbook. Focus on what you have, and make the most of it! Not the ideal tyres above, but it’s what we had. I think a lot of people could do better if they adjusted their attitudes, and made an effort to maximise their performance in every aspect instead of worrying about what they wish they had, or what other people are doing.
The track is a real old school offroad track! Dusty as hell to begin with, but now a nice rough medium grip groove has formed. It has some good corner sections that are rewarding when you get them right. Hopefully the weather is good tomorrow, and we will get some video, and punch it in the mains!
It’s Bavaria – NOT Germany
Today we learned that even though we were pretty confident that we were in Germany, apparently we are in Bavaria. This is very different from Germany we were told. The dialect is different here, and probably the Bavarian sausages too. Bavaria is the place to be if you believe the locals. So far we can’t really complain. Had to do some work in the morning, then visited the local track for a rebuild and shake down for tomorrows race, and then finally took a couple of hours off chilling in the pool. Unfortunately it ended bad for Max who shot me first in the eye, and then in the balls with a water AK-47. The double take out resulted in some serious payback which ended with Max being traded with the local farmer for some sheep and a chicken.
In the evening we went to a Bavarian Beer Garden, for some magnificent Germa….Bavarian meat and potatoes, and of course the local village beer. They know how to enjoy life over here. Looking forward to racing tomorrow!
The Ostbayernring in Osterhofen
Epic full throttle burm at the end on the straight
![IMG_4011[1]](https://jqproducts.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/img_40111-e1466798674951.jpg)
Euro Road Trip Day 2
Past midnight, but still light!
This was really the first real day. Yesterday we just drove to the boat. Today we got up at 6am when we arrived in Stockholm and drove about 4-5h to Eksjö where our maniac team driver and Swedish JQRacing representative lives, Max Johansson. We had breakfast with him and his grand parents, and headed to his home track. After turning some laps with Max’s car we then continued for another 8h or so through Denmark all the way to northern Germany, where we stopped at Mervyn Mulleräs house. He has his own marketing /graphic design company Marshland Media and is responsible for JQRacing’s team image, and RTR boxes amongst other things. So if you want to look as cool as us, you know who to call! 🙂 Had a BBQ and bullshitted into the night. Now it’s time for some rest. Tomorrow we have another 9h or so to drive, to the south of Germany!
Opel started falling to bits!
This is what Sweden looks like.
#rcgypsy breakfast of champions at the Johanssons!
The Eksjö track
![IMG_3978[1]](https://jqproducts.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/img_39781.jpg)
Germany branded BBQ for Football Euro2016!
2016 Nordics, Sweden In Pictures
It all started on the boat over to Sweden with some of Kimi’s new ICEMAN Longdrink.
Some people had too many longdrinks and missed the arrival. I had to drive the camper off the boat before they threw it in the sea, and then picked these two bastards up at the bus stop.
Look at that beauty!
Max was super excited to be at the Nordics. This is Max super excited.
Arto (D2) is trying to remember if he changed his clutchbell bearings in 2011 or 2012.
John “Jesus” Sandberg was back racing. With his “flickmobil”. He was in the lowest main, but bumped after I gave him the “are you kidding me look” as we checked the schedule for Sunday, with an 8am start. I think everyone loves Jesus, he is a great guy.
Mr Full Throttle Max Johansson somehow, SOMEHOW didn’t fly off this rather tight high grip challenging track, and made the main, finishing 7th. He has improved massively and will keep improving if he sticks to it. Max is agro, I love it. His grandfather is funny too. Awesome team.
Wowaweewaa!
We decided to be rebels and pitted out in the camping area. This was the walk to the track we took, filled with hope and dreams.
Laptimes were guaranteed to be good by careful strategic planning and execution.
These guys told me to stop driving like a….like a….I can’t think of an appropriate term that’s not sexist or otherwise inappropriate. Like a…like me. I had to be more aggressive, fuck it, and just pull the trigger and hold on. Well after I just missed TQ in Q3 and finally got it in Q5 they were ready to take all the credit. Of course!
Look at that sexy thing! Not the wheel.
Botkyrka Club organised a banquet which was really nice. I forgot to take a picture of the food, but as you can see, it was popular!
Checking the idle before the final!
It was really fun racing with David & Christoffer for the first 10-15 min, and then Coffe for another 30min after that!
Car was good, car was good!
When you turn over 100 laps you know that’s a serious race you just completed.
When I returned to “Camp Finland” the camper vans had gone. And left in the dust was this kid. I suddenly had become responsible for this innocent little boy in a foreign country. I feel like this was a test devised by his mom, a warm up you could say for our road trip to Spain next month. I don’t know why they don’t trust me, nothing ever goes wrong on my world tours….
Sometimes things need to go right, even for the most stubborn of us. I tell you….
I told you everyone loves Jesus, right? Max and me #rcgypsied it in style this time. Thank you, happy days!
On Sunday night, after tucking Max into bed, we headed out to celebrate a Finn kicking all the Swedish guys asses once again. It was good.
As I said, it was good!
We arrived home to this. 😀
We had an epic breakfast. OH MAN!
Monday and Tuesday we spent here, at the epic new Eskilstuna facility.
Scandinavia, so clean and so organised.
RC Racing is hard work, seriously. This guy couldn’t handle it.
Nordic Champs 2016, Sweden
Busy busy day at the Nordic Championships. This is the only annual race that I have never missed since I first attended in 2000! I have been to every one since then, and managed to win it at least once in all 4 countries, which was my goal back in the day. Last year I was fast back home in Finland, and it will be interesting to see how I can do here against the Swedes on their home turf. Today I was almost on the pace, but I need a bit more. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.
THEQuagraine 